Forest fires — Burned Area in Middle Africa

Middle Africa: Forest fires — Burned Area was 8.12 million ha in 2024. ▲ Rising

Latest (2024)
8.12 million ha
Change on year
up 6.2%
Rank
2nd
of 22 regions
All-time high
12.96 million ha
in 2011
All-time low
3.95 million ha
in 1996
Years of data
35
1990–2024

Forest fires — Burned Area in Middle Africa, 1990–2024

4.0M6.0M8.0M10.0M12.0M1990200720241990: 9.7M ha1991: 9.7M ha1992: 9.7M ha1993: 9.7M ha1994: 9.7M ha1995: 9.7M ha1996: 3.9M ha1997: 4.7M ha1998: 5.9M ha1999: 5.1M ha2000: 4.0M ha2001: 8.5M ha2002: 9.3M ha2003: 12.0M ha2004: 11.2M ha2005: 12.5M ha2006: 11.6M ha2007: 11.3M ha2008: 11.6M ha2009: 10.5M ha2010: 12.4M ha2011: 13.0M ha2012: 12.6M ha2013: 11.5M ha2014: 10.4M ha2015: 10.7M ha2016: 11.8M ha2017: 11.8M ha2018: 9.9M ha2019: 11.3M ha2020: 10.5M ha2021: 10.0M ha2022: 8.9M ha2023: 7.6M ha2024: 8.1M ha

Source: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Measured in ha.

Analysis

Middle Africa recorded 8.12 million ha for forest fires — burned area in 2024.

Compared with earlier readings it is up 6.2% on the previous year and down 21.7% over ten years.

Over the whole period, forest fires — burned area in Middle Africa peaked at 12.96 million ha in 2011 and was at its lowest, 3.95 million ha, in 1996.

Middle Africa ranks 2nd of 22 regions on this measure, in the top 10%.

The long-run direction has been consistently rising across the 35 years of available data.

Forest fires — Burned Area in Middle Africa, year by year

Annual values for Forest fires — Burned Area in Middle Africa, 1990 to 2024.
Year ha Change
1990 9.74 million ha
1991 9.74 million ha +0.0%
1992 9.74 million ha +0.0%
1993 9.74 million ha +0.0%
1994 9.74 million ha +0.0%
1995 9.74 million ha +0.0%
1996 3.95 million ha -59.5%
1997 4.67 million ha +18.3%
1998 5.89 million ha +26.2%
1999 5.09 million ha -13.7%
2000 4.01 million ha -21.1%
2001 8.52 million ha +112.3%
2002 9.27 million ha +8.8%
2003 12.00 million ha +29.4%
2004 11.17 million ha -6.9%
2005 12.54 million ha +12.3%
2006 11.55 million ha -7.9%
2007 11.34 million ha -1.8%
2008 11.59 million ha +2.2%
2009 10.49 million ha -9.5%
2010 12.40 million ha +18.2%
2011 12.96 million ha +4.6%
2012 12.56 million ha -3.1%
2013 11.49 million ha -8.5%
2014 10.38 million ha -9.7%
2015 10.72 million ha +3.3%
2016 11.75 million ha +9.6%
2017 11.77 million ha +0.1%
2018 9.95 million ha -15.4%
2019 11.29 million ha +13.5%
2020 10.51 million ha -7.0%
2021 9.99 million ha -4.9%
2022 8.91 million ha -10.9%
2023 7.65 million ha -14.1%
2024 8.12 million ha +6.2%

Averages by decade

DecadeAverage LowestHighest Years
1990s 7.80 million ha 3.95 million ha 9.74 million ha 10
2000s 10.25 million ha 4.01 million ha 12.54 million ha 10
2010s 11.53 million ha 9.95 million ha 12.96 million ha 10
2020s 9.03 million ha 7.65 million ha 10.51 million ha 5

Countries ranked near Middle Africa

  1. 1 Brazil 5.28 million ha compare
  2. 2 Zambia 2.93 million ha compare
  3. 3 Central African Republic 2.42 million ha compare
  4. 4 Mozambique 2.26 million ha compare
  5. 5 Angola 1.85 million ha compare

See the full ranking of 272 places →

More climate change data for Middle Africa

All data for Middle Africa →

Frequently asked questions

What is forest fires — burned area in Middle Africa?
Forest fires — burned area in Middle Africa was 8.12 million ha in 2024, according to Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.
What is the highest forest fires — burned area recorded in Middle Africa?
The highest recorded value was 12.96 million ha in 2011.
What is the lowest forest fires — burned area recorded in Middle Africa?
The lowest recorded value was 3.95 million ha in 1996.
How does Middle Africa rank for forest fires — burned area?
Middle Africa ranks 2nd out of 22 regions with data for 2024.
Is forest fires — burned area rising or falling in Middle Africa?
Over the last ten years it is down 21.7%. The long-run trend across the full record is rising.
Where does this Middle Africa data come from?
The figures come from Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, published as part of Forest fires — Burned Area. Statizoid updates them automatically from the source API.

Download this data

CSV · JSON — 35 observations, free to reuse under CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 IGO (FAO).

Share, cite or embed this page

Cite this page

Forest fires — Burned Area in Middle Africa. Statizoid, drawing on Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Retrieved 22 August 2026, from https://climate.statizoid.com/stat/forest-fires-burned-area-fao-tier-1/middle-africa/

Embed or link this data

Paste this into a page to link back to these figures. The data itself is free to reuse under CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 IGO (FAO); please keep the attribution.

<a href="https://climate.statizoid.com/stat/forest-fires-burned-area-fao-tier-1/middle-africa/">Forest fires — Burned Area in Middle Africa</a> — Statizoid

About this data

Indicator
Forest fires — Burned Area
Unit
ha
Source
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
Licence
CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 IGO (FAO)
Coverage
272 places, 9,294 data points, 1990–2024
Last refreshed

The FAOSTAT domain on Emissions from Fires consists of estimates of methane (CH4), nitrous oxide (N2O) and carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions generated from biomass burning in a range of vegetation types and from fires in organic soils.